A Cincinnati, hungry girl's quest for unpretentious, tasty food

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Goettafest!!!!

Yes, I realize that it’s probably NOT normal or very sane, to get so excited at the thought of food festivals. But, I’m a foodie girl, in a foodie world – and, that’s what I live for. It’s a sad existence…but, it’s mine.

My daughter was IN, from the start, for Goettafest (seriously, turn the sound on your computer UP and ON, when you click on the website!). The husband took a little convincing. Keep in mind, he HATES all festivals (still scarring from his west side festival years…). But, with my blond power of persuasion, he gave in. 😉

Friday night at the Goettafest – here we come! (Maddie’s beau, also came with us)

Driving in rush hour, was a bitch. Parking was a bigger bitch. (a Reds game was also going on) But, I put all my bitter, angry feelings aside for the sake of the goetta. I should probably ascertain, that if you don’t live in Cincinnati, you probably have NO idea what goetta is.

Goetta : is a breakfast sausage of likely German-American origin that is popular in the greater Cincinnati area. It is primarily composed of ground meat (pork, or pork and beef) and steel-cut oats.

It’s yummy – not scary. I promise!

After the mile hike to the festival, we walked in to this…

Awesome, huh?!?!

I read, on their website, that each restaurant/booth must have 3 items with goetta, 2 items without and 1 dessert (goetta optional on that one).

Had the kids take an embarrassing picture…

Who doesn’t like being a goetta roll?

There were a LOT of booths to take in! My main goals were to try the goetta coney, the goetta fries and the goetta balls. Yes, I said balls.

Here’s a look at the complete menu – of course, I didn’t notice it until the way OUT. Sorry, the goetta was sucking me in.

Kind of hard to see – but if you click on it, gets a little bigger!

Like I said, I wasn’t following a menu – just my nose and my taste buds!

Before I start the picture onslaught, the prices were $3-$5. I think the cheese fries were the most, at $6. (NOT worth it)

The fries SUCKED – they were rubbery and cold. And, it didn’t taste like goetta. (even though it was goetta chili) Eh.

My husband got the burrito (he veered off, on his own!) Got the addition of “melty cheese” for me. God love him. This was his favorite thing. To me, it was “eh”.

While he was getting the burrito, the kids and I got these two…

The Goetta Melt needed to be GRILLED – as it was, it was plain rye bread, with a slab of goetta and some swiss cheese. All great components, but needed some butter and a griddle!

Maddie wished that we brought our own supply of syrup. But, to be fair, that girl will eat syrup off a dog, if need be.

The Goetta Balls – this is what the Goettafest should be. They were simple, the taste of the goetta was upfront and they were TASTY! Hands down, my favorite thing. Maddie agreed.

Again, I had high hopes for the Goetta Coney (the goetta was in link form). But, it tasted like, a normal old coney. Eh.

I was trying to save room, so I didn’t eat the Goetta Eggroll. Everyone else thought it was disgusting.

This is the last thing that I HAD to have. (the husband also got a goetta calzone and I guess I didn’t snap a picture of that!). It was probably the only other thing that I thought was good. However, the pizza needed a sauce – it was just cheese, garlic and goetta. Syrup drizzle? 😉 Mike thought the calzone was “eh” – he didn’t finish it and couldn’t give the other half away.

Okay – we passed Busken’s (and, yes, they had goetta desserts – including a goetta brownie)…and, they had an AMAZING looking cream puff. We couldn’t pass it up. Really, we couldn’t. It wasn’t an option.

Seriously. Frickin’ YUM. The cream filling was just…no words. I still have some, in the fridge, that I plan on attacking once everyone’s in bed. It requires concentration, peaceful thoughts and solo-ness.

Almost forgot – what does the Goettafest need? A Goetta Mascot!

Yes, a grown person, is running around Newport, dressed…as goetta.

It was my first time at the Goettafest and it’ll probably be my last. Minus the Goetta Balls, I just wasn’t impressed. Mike and I agreed that if you add a bunch of stuff to the goetta, it gets drowned out and you can’t detect the goetta. That’s what we went for – a supreme goetta fix. This foodie girl was disappointed.